Shutdown Food for Thought: So Happy

I'm sorry, Jenna, but I just have to share my joy with everyone...

Yesterday I talked to Jenna (on my way to Meijer to risk my life for dinner for the rest of the week) about what to do "next" after you use Google Meet as a workaround to record videos and screencasts. A bit later as I was making said dinner I get an email from her that she recorded a "How to" on the process we talked about on the phone. 

This... is... awesome!!!

Thanks to Jenna for taking the time to help others out. I couldn't have done it better, and I'm sure everyone appreciates hearing a different voice than mine. Jenna's video is added under the "Video Tips and Tricks" section of the Resource Site as a follow up to mine that mentions using Google Meet in this sneaky little way. But, I've attached it here for your viewing pleasure also.
Once again, I couldn't be happier to be a part of the Raider family (as well as my totally awesome Tech PLC)!

Shutdown Food for Thought: To Record or Not to Record?

I've been talking to a number of teachers lately about video creation. In addition to talking to those teachers, I've also been busy creating some videos and screencasts to post on our Resources site. In doing so, I'm reminded of a dilemma I reached a few years ago as I was transitioning my classroom into a Flipped, or Blended, classroom.

My first recommendation for you... Don't be afraid to use what's already out there. The internet is full of amazing people doing amazing things and recording themselves doing it. For a lot of content, a great video already exists either on Khan Academy or YouTube. Use what's there, assign those videos to watch. I love the Isaac Newton quote "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." because it applies so well to our digital age. I try to use content that already exists as much as I can to save on time and headaches of creating that content, that way when something comes up that I really want to make my own or make apply to Portland specifically, I have the time and energy to do so. The creator in me still gets stuck in this argument with my smarter self. I want to create my own stuff, but trying to record and create everything just isn't practical, and it's not the best use of time and energy.
If/when you do record your own videos, play with it a little bit first to develop some comfort with how it looks and feels and to "find your voice" for lack of a better term. My voice is typically very relaxed with a tiny smidge of humor and sarcasm (if you haven't noticed yet) unless my audience changes (like in the Parent video on our Resources Page). Sal Khan definitely has a "voice" to his videos as do others like ProfRobBob. Do a quick test run first also, just to make sure you know where to click, how to move the camera, etc. And don't overlook sound. I remember an article I read years ago that really stuck with me because it was surprisingly true. We'll all sit and struggle through a video with poor visuals as long as we can hear it clearly. But, no matter how perfect the visuals are, if the audio is bad, we won't watch more than 20 seconds before giving up.
Try to find a balance. We're just getting started on this journey. Don't overwhelm yourself and set a pace that you can't keep. Use the internet as it was intended, and stand on those giants' shoulders.

Shutdown Food for Thought: Where to Start

As of my writing this, we are still waiting for some sort of official word letting us know what Distance Learning looks like. This drives us nuts as educators because we have been ingrained from Day 1 that our Lesson Plans need to be done and done well. Believe me, I share your anxiety, concerns, worries, stresses, etc., and that's coming from someone whose first job was teaching at an Online Charter School. I also very much share everyone's concerns for our students who do not have access to technology and internet service. This is one of the problems with this type of education. I think I mentioned Liz Kolb a few emails ago and her comments on how virtual schools tend to widen the achievement gap between our socio-economic groups.
With that being said, my recommendation for you as you start thinking about what your class might look like going forward is to consider the way you teach in your classroom. I'm guessing that you deliver instruction and activities that meet the needs of MOST of your students first. It's the "MOST" of your students who determine how you plan and deliver your lessons. After that planning is done, you go back and look for ways to differentiate that instruction for students who aren't in that "MOST" group. You add supports, alternatives, and accommodations for students who need them because what you have isn't accessible to them. You add extensions for students who need more than what the "MOST" get because you don't want to hold them back from soaring like they can.
We are in the process of trying to assess the level of access our students and families have to digital content. We don't have that finalized yet, but if I was a betting man, I would be willing to bet that MOST of our students will have access to digital content. Not all of them, but they are now our "MOST" group. If you are struggling with the unknown and can't handle not thinking about some sort of plan for how this whole thing will work (first of all, you're not alone), come at it like you would for any lesson. Plan for teaching the MOST of your students first, then we can circle back and differentiate.
I so wish I could just give everyone a checklist, but I'm with you in the unknown group. However, I'm confident that wherever we land, we'll do everything we can to provide the best education possible to each of our students because that's what we do, and we won't settle for less than that.

Shutdown Food for Thought: Google Voice

So this morning I thought I'd share out a suggestion for those who may be worried about handing out your personal cell phone number to anyone and everyone, but you're worried about the students who don't have internet at home and how to reach them. Believe me, I get your apprehension. If you want to be really scared, give Reply All's Snapchat Thief Episode a listen.
Anyway, I'm not sure if you caught in my last email that I've added a new phone number to my email signature. This is my Google Voice number. It rings through to either my computer or my phone, where I've installed the Google Voice App. I've had this number since college, when Voice first came out, and since then I've used it in numerous ways. I gave it to parents when I chaperoned 8th Grade DC Trips. I used it to call principals and teachers when working at the ISD level and I needed to phone when working from home. I recently shared it with our teachers who were all attending a conference together so they could reach me. And now I'm sharing it with you all. You can all reach me on my cell phone without actually having my number.
If you want to check it out for yourself, you'll need to use a personal gmail account (not your school account). Just go to https://voice.google.com/ and check it out. I haven't gone through the setup process in about 15 years, but there are some good help docs available here, and of course I'll do my best to help out as much as I can.
The nice thing about Voice is that you can make/receive phone calls and send/receive texts through your computer or by installing the app, make and receive calls and texts on your smartphone. You can also turn the calls going to your phone on or off as needed and fine tune how your notifications come through.
As usual, let me know if you have specific questions or if there is anything I can help support you with. It's starting to sound like an exciting week coming up, so I'm sure we'll be in touch.

Shutdown Food for Thought: What are You Learning?

This was hard... I'm appreciative of our music teachers for taking it easy on me as far as feedback goes.

Shutdown Food for Thought: No Internet, Now What?

What a strange coincidence that I was halfway through drafting this email yesterday when I stopped to join my Superintendent's District-wide Q&A Google Meet. The first question posed by the group was exactly what I had started writing up.
There is no doubt in my mind that you've come across numerous articles, social media posts, emails, etc. in the past week and a half talking about leveraging technology for educating our students from a distance. It seems that screenshots of Zoom meetups and Google Meet sessions have become the new selfie. I've been guilty of it myself. No doubt, technology is/can be an amazing tool to continue some form of education in times like this. As I type this, my own kids are sitting at the same table working on Khan Academy to practice their Math skills before my son transitions over to his Pearson Realize account and my daughter Zooms with her friends to play their instruments together.
The one big problem that we need to keep in mind is that not all of our families are lucky enough to have an internet connection at home to do this. If we rely on technology to be our only route to an education, we're in for some big time problems down the road. Liz Kolb, from U of M, was recently quoted in an article on USA Today about the big problem with this saying, "One of the things that we know about online learning and virtual instruction is that it can increase some of the gaps that we have in education, especially around equity issues of low socioeconomic status students and more affluent students."
With that being said, simply sliding into a mode of handing out packets and worksheets to these students isn't good enough either. Not to say there isn't some value in paper work, but we have to be careful to provide "Powersheets" rather than "Busysheets." There's an excellent article (that you can also listen to in Podcast form) here that is an awesome reminder for us whether we're in Distance mode or Classroom mode.
But, above all, remember that your students' emotional wellbeing right now is far more important than any schoolwork you might be sending. If you've sent emails, do you know that they've been received by everyone? If you've read aloud to your elementary students on Facebook, have your students who don't have internet seen and heard you comforting them? If you've challenged your high school students to investigate exponential growth as a current event related to this crisis, how do they get their news without internet access?
I don't know the answers. I wonder the same thing about these emails I send to you. I know they're being read by some, but I don't know that they've reached everyone. I would challenge you to consider your communications to your students and to make sure your loving thoughts are getting through to everyone; often it's the students that are harder to reach who need to hear from you the most.

Shutdown Food for Thought: Khan Academy

So, as some of you know, I am a huge fan of Khan Academy. It's what led me to set foot in Portland for the first time 3 or 4 years ago for a PD Day, and I've used it in many ways in my classroom from supporting struggling students all the way up to replacing all homework assignments with practice sets on Khan Academy's Math Section. Over the last twelve years the organization has built up loads of content and practice capabilities from Math to Art History to Music to Computer Science to Science to SAT and on and on. While it can't replace the education we provide, it can serve to keep skills sharp, remediate, provide a spark, and/or help our parents with where to start.
Up until now, I've been hesitant to share out just a list of resources and tools that we could send to supplement our students' learning from afar. I have a number of reasons for hesitating on sending stuff to do. First, we need to not overwhelm our students and parents. We also need to not send them 100 different places to go with 100 different usernames and passwords; it needs to be simple. But then I saw this in my email inbox.
This one resource checks a lot of my boxes, so I wanted to share it with you in hopes that it might help some of our families by providing a quality, simple starting point for their crazy lives at home.
If you think it might be helpful, share it along. Just remind students (and/or parents) that they don't have to create an account. Simply sign in with their Google Account they use for school and proceed from there.